The Battle For Main Engineering

Posted on Wed May 15th, 2019 @ 7:52am by Lieutenant Chester O'Hamlin

1,377 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: S1:4: A Murder Of Crows
Location: Main Engineering
Timeline: MD63 12.45PM

The Reka screamed as it leapt from the upper levels of engineering, staff raised high in a killing blow, intent on its target far below. A flurry of phaser bolt's struck it mid-flight, and flung it against the towering cylinder of the warp core with a meaty thunk. Three more hid up there behind the Aux Power console, alternating between using their site to site transporter tech to vanish through the deck to come out of the ceiling in a flurry of blows.

They were good close quarters fighters, but in the open space of Engineering, their lack of range was a disadvantage. But coming up behind Victor's people from the ceiling or floor was going to whittle them down eventually.

"Martinez watch your back!" Vic shouted as another Reka popped out of the ceiling and cut into Martinez's shoulder with it's staff, the crack of his shoulder breaking audible. Vic fired his phaser but it hit a bulkhead as the creature disappeared again."Damn things!" he shouted as another appeared but this one was not as quick as Vic's phaser beam hit it dead on causing the bird like subject to just fall to the floor in a heap.

"Watch your back! Watch your back!" The Reka chanted in Reynold's mind as another two appeared. And then a third appeared behind them, the trio heading towards Victor's team with happy murderous thoughts percolating in their heads. But instead of the trio making a happy meal of his ExpSec team, the trailing one raised it's staff and swung it in a scything arc across the back of its compatriots. With a sizzle of cooking flesh the two Reka fell boneless to the floor, the third quickly bowing to one knee, staff held out to one side.

"Don't kill it! Its on our side!" Kella shouted, the horned Chadrian astronaut racing in from the main entrance to Engineering followed the merry band of misfits that was becoming known as Chets Irregulars. And there were none more irregular than Bar'soon, who had found one of the Reka staff's and was spinning it around like a kid with a baton. Someone would lose an eye.

"I think your engineer should be here...I think," Kella said, looking around as she kept the phaser ready but pointed away in a professional soldier's stance. "How is your team doing?"

"Someone rang?" came Ari's voice from behind as he phased into existance. "You all are making a mess out of this place!" he yelled as he stepped towards the warp core.

"Oh I don't know," Bar'soon said with a critical air to his words. "It has a sort of charm to it. Barbarian chic. Yes. YES! Yes, that's what this reminds me of! My Fifth Uncle's grand palace. Oh, he did love having skulls on the wall, and dead bodies lying about. though if I am honest a lot of the time the dead bodies were just dragging in from the local villages, but killing the peasantry was so dreadfully-"

A Reka materialised from the floor, and in a sweeping uppercut of its phase staff took the majority of the prattling princeling's head clean off in a spray of ash and scent of...levender? Bar'soon's headless body staggered for a second, before sitting down on its ass in a stupified pose.

Kella turned and fired on the Reka, the phase pistol in her hand taking it in the chest. As the Reka fell, Bar'soon's arms reached up and patted at the chard stump where his head had been.

"Yeah that never gets less creepy," Kella muttered before looking at Ari. "So what do we do now?"

"We protect the warp core at all cost. Without it, we're finished," Arivek said as he reached the core's main console. Behind him a Reka appeared out of nowhere, swinging its staff at the blue man, but the tool phased through his body without disruption. The alien stood there for a moment, obviously confused, until a phaser blast sent it flying away from the core.

Meanwhile, Chet was busy checking over the wounded and deciding whose injuries were a priority. “Is he gonna be okay?” he asked, indicating Bar’soon, who still sat pointlessly headless, hands probing the place where his head should be. “Well, at least he can’t wave that staff around anymore; he was about to take an eye out,” he added.

"Bar'soon wasn't okay from the moment I met him," Kella said as a bubbling mass began to grow from the stump of his neck. "Apparently his whole species is like this, which goes some way to explaining the cavalier disregard for life. When your functionally immortal a war just seems like an inconvenience. And given their hedonistic idiots to a one, I think we should all be grateful."

With a wet sounding pop the mass swelling atop BAr'soons neck released, and a slick and dripping newly formed head appeared from it. After a second it gasped, and Bar'soon opened his eyes which were both taking a second to look in the same direction at once.

"You were plotting about me weren't you!" he accused, jumping right back into form.

"Dang he caught us," Kella sighed and fired a suppressing volley over the head of a Reka who dived through a bulkhead.

"Where are your shield controls?" the Reka said, using the stolen voice of an Ensign they'd run past in the corridor. "You brought me here so I could prove to you I am a ally, not an enemy. Have your shield's harmonised at 2.34hrz, and you will see I seek alliance, not aggravation."

Arivek hesitated for a moment, clearly mulling over the request. It was one thing for Remas to trust the Reka, it was a completely other thing for Ari to do the same. And let's be honest this wouldn't have been the first time Remas made a poor judgement call. But there wasn't much of a choice right now, they were obviously illprepared to deal with this alien threat. And they needed all the help they could get. "Shields harmonized at 2.34hrz," Arivek said as he input the commands into the console.

"What the hell did you do lightbulb?" Vic asked as he punched a Reka out then shot it with his phaser almost point blank, realizing he missed a good portion of the conversation thanks to the former Reka that popped out in front of him.

"I did what I had to do," Arivek said, surprised he even dignified the man with a response.

What followed was an odd sound, the sort that any cat owner would instantly recognise as the sound of something falling from a shelf. A heavy something, like a sack of potatoes. Then from the ceiling of main engineer came a flash of light, another Reka materialising from the deck above. But instead of falling gracefully to land and begin mincing up more of Victor's shooters, it fell. What hit the deck spread out a little with the impact, but not enough to hide the fact it was one half of a Reka. The skin was blackened, almost ash like in places where it crumbled and smouldered.

And where waist met hips, nothing but char.

No more Reka appeared, though there was the odd sound of something heavy hitting a wall or floor where a Reka used their now very fatal site to site transporters.

"Wonderfully done," the tame Reka said, walking slowly over to kneel beside the Bone Shard Crown that had fallen from the ceiling. It poked one of its claws against the beak of the dead body, watching it turn to ash. "Any Reka now left alive will be very easy for you to round up with your conventional weapons. Without the ability to flash dance, they will be your prey."

It then turned, whipped out its own staff, and held it out to the Starfleeters.

"I offer you my weapon to vouch for my safe passage and good parole."

Ari took a step forward towards the Reka, gently taking the staff. "I'll escort you back to the Captain. I'm sure there's much more we need to talk about," he said.

"On that, we can agree," the Reka said.

 

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